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Posted: May 20, 2008 7:14 PM
Clinton Projected to Win Kentucky Primary
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Moments after the final polls closed in Kentucky’s western counties, the Associated Press and other news organizations projected that Sen. Hillary Clinton would win her second primary victory in a row.

Analysts said the victory would do little to cut into Sen. Barack Obama’s lead among delegates to this summer’s Democratic convention.

The demographic landscape of the Bluegrass State mirrors that of neighboring West Virginia where Clinton secured a 41-point win last week over Sen. Barack Obama. In previous primaries, Clinton did better than Obama among rural voters.

Kentucky has the country’s second-highest poverty rate behind Mississippi with 15.3 percent living below the poverty level. The median household income is $38,694 and only 20 percent of residents are college-educated.

Clinton had concentrated most of her campaigning this week in Kentucky and she planned to celebrate her win in the state with a speech Tuesday night in Louisville. Obama will speak in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kentucky voters continued a recent trend in Democratic primaries by overwhelmingly picking the economy when given three choices for the most important issue facing the country, according to preliminary results of exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and TV stations.

The Bluegrass State had one of the least liberal electorates out of 33 competitive Democratic primaries in which exit polls were conducted this year — only about a third of voters called themselves liberal. In most primaries so far, Clinton has done better with more conservative voters while more liberal voters have favored Obama.

About two-thirds of Democratic voters in Kentucky said the economy was the top issue, about 20 percent picked the Iraq war and half as many said health care, the AP reported.

Nearly two in 10 Kentucky Democratic voters said former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ endorsement of Obama was a very important factor in their vote and nearly three in 10 said it was somewhat important. The question wasn’t asked in Oregon, where the phone poll began before Edwards announced his choice.

On the West Coast, Oregon’s mail-in ballot primary is expected to be a closer contest. With results not expected until after 11 p.m. ET, it could be a long night for East Coast politicos.